


want and worth

by nedstark



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: F/M, Family, Fluff and Angst, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Parent-Child Relationship, Parenthood, Pre-Series, Sweet, low key angst tho
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-11
Updated: 2015-07-11
Packaged: 2018-04-08 20:08:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4318209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nedstark/pseuds/nedstark
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's the first time he has truly seen them since the night of her birth.</p>
            </blockquote>





	want and worth

It was the one place on Dragonstone a person might have never expected to find Lord Stannis Baratheon, and yet there he was.

Selyse almost started as he cleared his throat from where he stood outside the nursery. She had been so lost in thoughts of her daughter she had failed to hear the echo of his stride in the almost cavernous hallways. Perhaps he had purposefully kept his footfalls silent? No, she dismissed the absurd notion as soon as she thought it. What reason would her lord husband have to sneak about his own stronghold?

A soft gurgle came from the bundle in her arms. Well, perhaps one reason.

"I don't wish to disturb you, my lady."

Selyse closed her mouth and shook her head, remembering herself. "Never. Please, come in."

She tried not to watch as he shifted into the room. He seemed to be inspecting every inch of every wall, the floor, the ceiling, anywhere but her. She bit her lip and let her eyes fall back to her daughter.

Stannis finally opened his mouth to speak just as Shireen finished nursing. He pointedly averted his eyes as Selyse tucked herself away.

"It is not as if you have not seen them before." She huffed before she could help herself.

Stannis clenched his jaw mildly. "Yes, thank you, Selyse."

When he was certain she was covered and decent again, he couldn't help but stare at his child, _their child_ , cradled in her arms. Selyse watched him watch their daughter.

"You may hold her whenever you wish." She said gently.

"I know that." Stannis snapped and immediately regretted doing so when Shireen cried out softly.

He expected a reprimand (Selyse was the only woman who would dare, and only ever in private) but there was a bright smile on her face he felt not even _he_ could tarnish.

"I think someone is saying hello."

Stannis scoffed. "I doubt that." Babies could not talk, but he supposed he appreciated the thought. He had known Renly as a newborn and if his youngest brother had been able to speak at that age he would never have stopped.

Yet silently he came to stand closer by Selyse's side, hovering over her shoulder.

He looked down at the child who looked back with the same eyes.

The silence was almost profound as they gazed at each other, father and daughter. Had his own lord father felt this way when he looked upon his own three children? Stannis was momentarily stricken with sorrow and grief, the kind that never truly went away, simply became lighter to bear the stronger he grew.

"She looks like you." He told Selyse suddenly. In truth Shireen looked as all newborns did, wrinkled and red, yet he could easily see Selyse in her even now. Particularly the prominence of her ears.

Selyse's smile was all for him this time. "And you, my lord husband. Look at her eyes, her hair."

Shireen already had a thatch of dark hair atop her head. Thicker than his own, Stannis thought.

Selyse carefully rose to her feet and laid Shireen gently back in her crib, tucking her in.

"Cressen tells me you are both well." It was not quite a question.

"We are well, my lord, and better. She is a survivor, your daughter. She has your iron."

Stannis noticed for the first how tired Selyse looked. No, _exhausted_. Hers was a pregnancy to rival the last one Dragonstone witnessed. He could still faintly hear the echo of Selyse's screams, a crescendo matched only by the crashing of the waves below and the roaring of the wind.

He came to stand beside his wife. Her hands clutched the solid rail of the round crib.

"You should rest, my lady." Stannis said eventually, and hesitantly tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

The gesture was new to him but not lost on her. Selyse stared, a faint pinkness rising to her cheeks.

"I think I shall," she murmured after a moment. Her finger brushed his on the rail he hadn't realised he gripped. "Good night, my lord."

Stannis watched her go and spoke before he could stop himself.

"Selyse," his voice was strained. She lingered in the threshold of the nursery, waiting for him. "I wished you had not suffered as you did."

She seemed lost for words, all her courtesies caught in her chest. He idly tracked the movement of her throat work as she swallowed and drew her nightgown about her. She held her head a little higher.

"It was my duty, my lord. It _is_ my duty. I know she is not the son you wanted....but she was worth it."

And then Selyse was gone.

Stannis stood at the head of the carved crib and gazed at his daughter again. She slept soundly, swaddled in blankets of black and gold. Her tiny chest rose and fell beneath the colours of their House.

"Yes," Stannis heard himself say quietly without an ounce of reluctance or regret, and watched as Shireen turned her head to the sound of his voice. "She was."

**Author's Note:**

> forever crying over stannis, selyse and shireen 2k15  
> probably ooc?? but i'm a sucker for new dad stannis oh my god and selyse is so under appreciated :(  
> like stannis is under appreciated don't get me started but selyse?? holy moly  
> anyway, i hope you liked it!
> 
> edit: and just a lil fyi in case you didn't know (i'm not sure if it's canon or not but it is for the sake of this fic) dany was the last person born on dragonstone which resulted in her mother rhaella's death :(


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